Career Path Stories

From Co-op to Dream Job

“It was like the dream job I never knew existed,” shared Darron Sims-Stevenson, a prior airplane mechanic for the U.S. Marine Corps, about his current role at Tokio Marine North America Services (TMNAS). He started with TMNAS when he was a student at Drexel University through the Co-op Program. Participation in this extended internship program allows students to work up to three full-time positions for six months alternating with taking classes to complete their degree. TMNAS has been hiring Drexel co-ops for more than 12 years, starting in the Accounting department, and now has five to six co-op positions across multiple departments, including Accounting/Finance, Internal Audit, Information Technology, and Corporate Communications.

Carl Gaines, Darron Sims-Stevenson, and Charles (Henry) Russell are three previous participants of the program at TMNAS who were transformed by their experiences and eager to share their stories. They are among numerous full-time employees who started at the company as interns. In fact, TMNAS converts 25-30% of its interns to full-time employees.

Carl Gaines started with TMNAS’ sister company, Philadelphia Insurance Companies (PHLY), back in 2000. Due to this being the start of the Co-op Program at PHLY, he recalls being in a very undefined role. Most of the work he received was centered around customer service, including filing and similar tasks . However, Carl gradually gained more responsibilities in different areas by asking questions and taking initiative. After this internship, he continued with PHLY part-time while he was back in classes at Drexel. He stayed at the company for his next co-op as well and was hired full-time after his graduation. After TMNAS was formed in 2012 to provide shared services to PHLY and other Tokio Marine Group companies, Carl became part of the new company with the IT department. He is now a Senior IT Manager and manages Drexel Co-ops himself, even having hired one full-time on his team. Darron Sims-Stevenson had a unique journey to becoming an Internal Auditor at TMNAS. From being an airline mechanic for the Marine Corps to almost accepting his first co-op as a financial advisor, it wasn’t until his interview with TMNAS that he found his calling. He recalls from his interview, “It just felt really comfortable and I was torn because I didn’t really know too much about internal audit, but I just liked the feeling of it.” Darron accepted the position as an Internal Audit Co-op in 2018, moved to IT Finance part-time while finishing his degree, and returned to the Internal Audit team full-time in 2020, shortly after his graduation from Drexel the previous year.

Charles (Henry) Russell joined TMNAS as a co-op in 2017, having done a previous co-op at the University of Pennsylvania. He started off doing profit share analysis, and then moved to a more general accounting role. Henry graduated from Drexel in 2019 and was hired full-time with TMNAS as an Accountant. He is now a Financial Analyst.

Below are some of the questions we asked these previous Co-op Program participants and their responses.

How did your Drexel co-op experiences (both at TMNAS and any other organizations) prepare you for your career?

Carl: It prepared me by being given the opportunity for someone to come in and say, we’re going to give you six months of specialized work experience. It was not as if it was only grabbing coffee type of position. They gave actual work-related tasks, even though at first it was just filing. It was more department specific work that I had to do. Giving me more specialized work was kind of how it prepared me for my future. It was an eye-opening experience and reality check that I was no longer in school and a part of the real world.

Darron: It kind of gave me a leg up when I came back to the audit team, because I had the experience as an intern. It helped that I had familiarity, and the department kind of knew what I was doing. I knew my managers and we already had that rapport, so it helped out with having to work from home during the pandemic, starting off in a brand-new career.

Henry: Responsibilities. As interns, a lot of the times we were given the responsibilities that I think interns don’t usually have. Also, the summer internship project. It taught me a lot because I was presenting to all the executives to bring up new ideas, talking with them, getting to know how they see the company. Having that experience as an intern kind of helped me say “OK, I've done this before. How did the different departments see everything?”

What made you want to work full-time at TMNAS?

Carl: If you learn one thing and you ask for more, people trust you and youre given the opportunity to do more. So while doing the mundane work in the beginning may not seem that challenging, asking for more led me to think, “OK, that’s interesting. I want to know more about this.” The more you are here and you are ambitious, the more you learn about the business, you will never get bored. That same perspective is what I had and how I went through several different departments over my career because I thought, “I’ve kind of learned all I can. I want to learn something new.”

Darron: Definitely the company culture. It was very early on that I realized I want to work here full-time. And they actually knew very early that if there's anything open, I'd be willing to accept a position. Wherever, even if it wasn't audit at the time, which actually it wasn't.

Henry: One of the things that really stood out to me is that I was given interns to be responsible for and checked their work while I was an intern. During busy season for profit sharing, there was a time where we had to do a lot and I was able to check over the interns’ work. Being given that responsibility and freedom made me feel like I was ready to go. I did a previous Co-op, but I feel like TMNAS is one where I had the opportunity to hit the ground running. That was something that made it feel like a real place and I loved it. That’s kind of what drove me to be full-time here.

Why do you think students should consider TMNAS for their co-op or internship?

Carl: It’s an opportunity where you can learn as much as you’re willing to learn. If you come here and your thoughts are that you want to be a System Administrator, were going to show you what it takes to be one and provide you with the information. But that information isn’t worth anything if you don’t ask why and how or want to learn. If you want to learn and grow in your career, it definitely helps you succeed at TMNAS.

One of our previous Co-ops wanted to know more and we shared the information with him and trained him. Then we said, “rather than having you leave after six months, would you like to stay and work part-time?” Then he stayed for his next co-op. Later when he learned the skills and how to complete the tasks and then get to the end goal and was very good at it, I asked, “would you be interested in a full-time position?” Realizing his potential, I worked with my Manager and our VP to get him a position here.

Darron: Outside of it being just a great place to work, there's just so many different opportunities that TMNAS offers. Like right now I'm actually part one of the Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) for parents and caregivers. And there’s just so many different volunteer opportunities. You can do more than just sit behind your computer and work, work, work.

Henry: It's much more hands on. I learned a whole lot more interning for TMNAS than I did at school. Honestly, I think one of the benefits of Drexel was the Co-op Program because again, I probably learned more here than I did in classes and everything. And I think TMNAS does a good job of providing that to every intern.

Through the Drexel Co-op program, TMNAS provides students with six months of valuable full-time work experience in their chosen field. Carl, Darron, and Henry are examples of the transformative power of this program, having transitioned from co-ops to esteemed full-time employees. The Co-op Program allowed them to explore their interests, make meaningful connections, and jumpstart their career during their college years. To learn more about the culture and career opportunities TMNAS has to offer, visit: https://careers.tmnas.com/